Happy Birthday, Mr. President: Kerry Picked a Sitting Duck
John Kerry's anticlimactic announcement of John Edwards as his Number Two was given the royal news treatment last Tuesday. Elsewhere, President Bush was quietly celebrating his birthday. Whether the Kerry campaign timed it to spoil the President's day is for paranoid documentary filmmakers. Instead, Kerry may have actually given the Bush campaign the best birthday gift of all: a new target.
At first blush, John Edwards is Kerry's ideal number two. He's young, energetic, articulate, handsome and a self-made man. In short, he's everything Kerry isn't. But soon the joyous stories will fade as the voting draws near. The candy coating will flake off and the ticket's soft underbelly will be extremely vulnerable.
John F. Kerry should be called Johnny Fairplay in homage to the "Survivor" castaway who proved he'd say anything to win. On every major issue Johnny Fairplay has changed positions so often that even seasoned tennis spectators would get whiplash. He voted for the Iraq war but then castigated it. He voted for the Patriot Act then excoriated it. He acts like a defense hawk but has systematically attempted to slash defense programs. He champions abortion rights but just recently said he believes life begins at conception.
The only thing he hasn't done to gain voter sympathy is claim his grandmother died. His speeches have a pronounced boomerang effect: Everything he says comes back to hit him in the head. The campaign slogan should be, "Where's the crash helmet?"
Edwards isn't nearly as erratic but he's also easily targeted. His only claim to senatorial fame is helping to blockade the Bush judicial nominees; none of his legislation has reached the Senate floor. His primary campaign was woefully one-dimensional, relying on the "Two Americas" speech. The fact that he's a tort lawyer who helped drive up doctors' premiums (and the cost of health care) gives Republicans a bull's eye the size of Montana to shoot at.
Both men have accumulated some of the most liberal voting records in the Senate as ranked by both sides. Johnny Fairplay was ranked by the National Journal as the most liberal senator. Edwards proved to be more moderate, merely coming in fourth place. If you're trying to win a national election, running two men with extremist voting records is not the recommended course of action.
The Republicans must be licking their chops. Until the first Tuesday in November Kerry and Edwards are the biggest sitting ducks on the market: two liberals who are so far out in left field a Sammy Sosa blast can't get there.
What's worse, polls immediately after the Edwards Ascendency were flat lined. John Zogby's poll showed it had little effect, something unheard of when a vice presidential nominee is announced. The AP's poll shows Bush has pulled ahead, something that must be causing Fairplay-Edwards indigestion.
Regardless, the match is now set and the sides couldn't have staked out more different positions. But, in the end, it comes down to this: Kerry had every option to select a running mate (Bayh, Richardson, Clinton) who would have helped him but chose a man who is much more style than substance. And by doing so, he's opened up yet another avenue for Bush-Cheney to defeat him.
Happy Birthday, Mr. President.
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